May in the Garden

 The fern leaved peony, corsican hellebore, in front of the West Coast planter

This gentian is at the back beside the garage.  The ones I had in the front little rockery did not survive.  I shall have to try to get one like this one established.

 More of the alpine plants at the front.  This are in front of the fern leaved peony and the west coast planter. 

 This little lewisia rediviva is in the lewisia bed in the little rockery next to the vegetable garden.  The lewisias did fairly well this year. I am slowly getting a few little alpines to survive on that little rockery.  I like the wee ones.  I have a draba, a douglasi (not sure of the names) and a coup[e more tiny ones-- two of which bloomed this year.  I want to establish a silene ... I think that is what the one at the front is; that has grown over rocks in a great mound.  I will have to leave it enough space, if I find one. 

 Yellow lily flowering tulips

 A very nice fringed tulip.  The tulips are about finished.  The irises are coming into bloom, the roses and the rhodos.  There are a few early perennials to fill in the colors.  Photos of them today and hope to upload them soon.. for June, perhaps.
I finished cleaning up the pond and refilled it on Saturday.  Its a messy job, but not too difficult, after all.  I was dreading having to do it.  I dumped the muck from the bottom of the pond over the vegetable garden and the Japanese garden area.  Threw some of it on the little rockery and in the bed by the fig tree.  It should be good fertilizer. I stacked the pots that the lilies were growing in and put another pot of water iris on top of that.  This ended up being just the right depth of water for the water iris.  The waterfall is working good, there are two bunches of blooming water hawthorn... lovely plants.  There is not enough sunlight for the lilies, but the water hawthorn, the marsh marigolds, and the irises look good.  I also have a small Lebanon cedar that is clipped and stretches over its corner of the pond.  The saxifragia, campanulas and other edging plants are slowly covering the rock necklace.  Now I need goldfish, as the water seems to be clearing up.
I have most of the vegetable garden dug over.  There was compost on it over winter, so the top 6 - 8 inches has good tilth but there are just too many tree roots.  I was happy to see some earthworms in it again.  The irises along the side are doing great and so are all the chives, and other herbs.  A little compost goes a long way.  The strawberries have lots of blooms.  I have filled the cedar trough that Tara left and today put radishes (old seed - not sure if it will germinate) and allysum in it.  I cleaned up the rock work at the corner of the veggie garden, and then planted more radish seed along beside the cedar trough.  I planted the verbena bonariensis by the irises and hope it self seeds in this area.  I think it is a good butterfly plant.
The daisies at the front are looking good, and should be nice for a few weeks.  After I finish the vegetable garden, I must week and dead head everywhere.  This should not take long, as I have been keeping it up in the last couple of years.
I spent an hour or so trying to cut out the dead wood in the old yellow plum tree, using the long handled pruner from up on the deck.  It is looking a bit better, but needs more work, that I cannot reach. 

I finally got up the courage to load the ink to my printer and spent some time learning about printing.  This is one I am going to frame and hang as I am really happy with how it turned out.  It looks even better printed than it looks on my computer.  So, I have spent a bit of time yesterday looking for a plain black frame, at Royal Oak mall, but did not find the right size.